Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Motorized vehicles have been used for over 100 years to transport people and products from one location to another location. Various autonomous systems and protective features have been developed and installed in vehicles as safety features. One example of an autonomous system is an automatic braking system that functions to apply the brakes and slow the vehicle without any driver input when an object near the vehicle is detected. Another example of an autonomous system is an emergency brake assist system that functions to increase braking pressure when an emergency stop is detected.
Vehicle bumpers and airbags are two examples of protective features. Vehicle bumpers may be installed on the front and rear of a vehicle. Such vehicle bumpers are generally designed to absorb energy. Airbags may be designed to deploy when the vehicle detects a contact with an object in order to prevent injury to occupants of a vehicle. Some vehicles include external airbags that are affixed to a vehicle's cowl and configured to cover the surface of a windshield with a compliant material when the vehicle detects a contact with an object. The external airbags may help mitigate an impact of the object with the vehicle's windshield, for example.